A Number of Injured as Rough Air Hits Delta Aircraft Arriving in Sydney

Multiple passengers and crew have been injured after a Delta Airlines flight traveling from LA to Sydney, Australia experienced rough air this past Friday.

Delta Flight 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it landed at the Sydney airport, a representative for the carrier told. Four flight attendants were injured.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they evaluated five patients, and took three to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that included spinal discomfort and headaches. The injured were between their thirties and seventies.

It is the newest example of commercial jets being hit by severe turbulence, with experts indicating that global warming is a significant contributor.

On board were nearly 250 travelers and 15 crew members on the aircraft, the Delta spokesperson said, adding that the plane arrived "without further incident" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday morning.

Paramedics said they got a call just only 180 seconds ahead of the plane arrived, and ambulances were ready and waiting at the airport.

Why in-flight bumpiness is growing more common - and potentially more dangerous.

In the previous year, two dozen individuals were injured when another Delta jet, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, experienced "severe" rough air just a couple of hours into the lengthy trip, and was forced to make an precautionary landing.

Earlier this year, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines jet experienced a frightening five seconds of severe turbulence. One passenger died and many were hurt, as individuals not fastened in rose out of their seats and fell back down.

Bumpy air is not uncommon while flying, and while occurrences of rough conditions seem to be rising, they are still very rare.

Estimates show that there are an estimated 5,000 incidents of severe-or-greater turbulence each year, out of a overall number of in excess of 35 million aircraft departures that are conducted worldwide.

Intense turbulence is defined as when the sudden jolts of a plane passing through disturbed air apply more than a significant G-force on your body - enough to propel you from your seat if you weren't wearing a safety belt.

As climate change shifts the conditions in the sky, specialists caution that air travel could become less smooth: temperature changes and changing jet streams in the jet stream level are expected to boost the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.